pitching limits

[Mike]

If a 100 pitches are thrown in a 5 inning game, to me the pitcher is not very accurate...splinterpicker

I agree to a point, its possible the defense is not making any outs.

Thanks for all the input. We are figuring out her maximum pitch count in games when she usually starts to break down, I honestly think she is around the area of 80 pitches. Once the form starts to degrade I think its time to pull a pitcher but you guys know as well as I that that is a tough call in the middle of the game. Thats why I am trying to come up with a number that works for now and we will work on off days to try and increase that number. Its not perfect, some games she might be throwing great at 80 and some games maybe not, I will keep you posted on how it goes.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

As a dad of a pitcher, I still believe that the batters will determine the pitch count. Keep track of when dd started falling off and then try to throw more at practice, unless we are talking the third game in a row. Just use common sense, it would be better served than any pitch count.

I think some of you are missing the point. It really has nothing to do with how the pitcher feels during any particular game or tournament but the ACCUMULATION of pitches on the young arm, over a long period of time (e.g. a year, etc.). As a dad of a pitcher and a coach I am always concerned about the long-term health of my players and overuse injuries happen over long periods of time. Depending on the age of the athlete, I think we need to err on the side of caution when asking our players to overextend themselves even if they "feel fine". Let's be proactive, not reactive to the potential side effects of overusing these young girls for the benefit of a win.

 

[NVfishing]

One of our girls has an over use injury. Too much of anything can be a bad thing.

 

[rowdy]

I agree with Amy. The number of pitches you are talking about will do more harm than good. If you have a good warm up routine you will throw close to 100 pitches to warm up. I would suggest your workouts during the week are 50 to warm up, 100 for your workout and 50 for your cool down.

Watch your daughter and if she shows signs of fatigue then get her out of the game.

 

[splinterpicker]

I agree with rowdy fatigue leads to lapses in form. Conditioning is everything. I know this is the pitching forum but what about the catcher that squats for all those pitches. I have not seen any talk about the reps the knees take or the reps from throwing over handed. Just curious.

 

[Mike]

I did a little looking and found some research, I took some quotes out of context so feel free to read the whole article is so inclined. This article made the official study the easiest to understand.

Girl Softball Players Suffering More Shoulder Injuries


For the study, Fogarty's team collected data on baseball and softball injuries for the 2005-2008 academic years from about 74 U.S. high schools. These data came from the High School Reporting Information Online.


"In baseball, these injuries are primarily with the pitchers; in softball we are seeing it with the first baseman, the catcher, and is equally distributed amongst most of the positions," he said

Fogarty thinks softball injuries are due to lack of good training among these female high school athletes.

Over the study period, the researchers identified 91 shoulder injuries among baseball players and 40 among softball players. The most common injuries were strains and tears accounting for 30.8 percent of the baseball and 35 percent of the softball injuries. Most of the softball injuries, 68.2 percent, happened during throwing, but not pitching, during practice. Only 23.5 percent of the injuries occurred during games.

It looks like it comes down to just usage," he said. "We do have to pay attention to the problem much more than we thought."

"We need to pay more attention and not assume, as we did, that these injuries wouldn't happen," he stated. "It's not the mechanics; it's the overload."

Gotlin thinks girls, like boys, need to vary their physical activity, and not concentrate on one sport, to limit the danger of repetitive-motion injuries